Fixed Bias vs. Adjustable


Hi, all. I apologize if this has been a recent thread--I tried searching the archives and really couldn't come up with something . . .

Anyway, what advantages do adjustable bias amps have over fixed bias amps and vice versa?

Thanks.
crazy4blues

Showing 2 responses by marakanetz

Most of the the power amplifiers especially tubed ones ought to be with adjustable bias. For the tube amps working in SET operation biasing is still on demand since tubes do have a large parameter tolerance between each other hence it's important to matche the tube to the amplifier rather than to themselves when dealing with SET. Tube amps need to be re-biased periodically and SS amps are biased by the manufacturer once or when you're replacing an output transistors or blocks. High quality powerfull transistors nowdays are manufactured with very minimal parameter tolerance and need only be slightly adjusted with potentiometers or electronically depending on the class of operation and certainly bias level. If SS power amplifier works on low-bias operation than it's possible to have a fixed bias even for the output devices. Motorolla, Fairchild or Sanken transistors are perfect devices that work distortionless on the small bias operation.
Bias is adjustable in power amplifiers different ways either with potentiometers or by semiconductors electronically keeping the bias voltage at neccessary bias margin.
After realizing the huge benefits to tubes and to the tube amp reliability I've repeated Quicksilver's electronic bias controll and mounted it to my VTL amplifiers. Now I don't have to bias-re-bias them at any time and if tube goes bad only the tube goes bad thx god.
The driving stages and preamplifiers may have a fixed bias since small-signal devices have correspondedly substatially smaller parameter tolerance hence in these domains bias may set to be fixed.
Zaike,
It's a trade-off...

By embedding an electronic bias circuit you get rid of noisy potentiometers by nature and introducing Zenner diodes i.e. SS "intruders". Well anywhay VTL and many more tube amps are using SS power supplies so why not get an electronic controll over bias...? It's just simply a matter of effort and certainly money. They started implementing a bias B+ fuse that will prevent the grid voltage go above -40V but fuses and potentiometers are relatively equal sources of imperfection and noise as SS devices for electronic bias. IN addition you get a trouble-free and protected operation of the amplifier and and and tube life by nearly 40%.